Thursday, April 2, 2015

Since when did we decide that American discrimination doesn't matter as long as someone else is worse?

I must have missed the memo, but since when did we decide that our
discrimination doesn't matter as long as someone else, somewhere
else, is worse?

It seems like the right has adopted this as a go-to defense of
their bigotry: stop whining about American Christians who want to be
able to oppress gay people -- at least we're not asking to kill them,
like they do in some countries!

It's a takeaway from Senator
Tom Cotton's suggestion on CNN the other day that Americans upset
by the potential for legalized discrimination really needed to "have
a sense of perspective. In Iran they hang you for the crime of
being gay."

I find it ironic that we
are so tolerant of a religion that kills Christians, gays and
lesbians, yet we are punishing businesses in America for their
Christian religious beliefs. It seems this Easter weekend we are
reminded that Christian persecution has risen to a disturbing level.

The above text accompanied this image:

Not only, you see, are Christians being "persecuted" by
not being allowed to discriminate against LGBT people, West is
complaining that we're tolerant of a religion that kills gay people.
Presumably, the religion in question is Islam -- not only because
it's a safe bet that, at any given time, Allen West is no more than
half a sentence away from an Islam-slam, but because it would be far
too much to expect the sort of honesty that would acknowledge the
existence of murderous,
homophobic strainsof
the Christian faith.

The message, then, is that you've no business criticizing
Christian bigots, because at least they're not trying to murder gay
people like some Muslim bigots do. (Except, of course, when they are;
but once you're down the conservative rabbit hole, you realize that
while "bad Muslims" define the faith, "bad Christians"
just don't count.) In short, be grateful, gay people: American
Christian conservatives are contenting themselves to isolate and
discriminate against you, when they could be trying to kill you!

Of course, not all versions have to do with Muslims.

If Islam is Allen West's kryptonite, abortion is right-wing writer
Matt Walsh's. So, obviously, he tells us in an over-the-top
rage-fest on The Blaze, anti-discrimination efforts are, like,
totally pointless -- because abortion!

Don’t be silly, the national outrage has nothing to do
with dead babies, instead
it’s all targeted at Indiana. No, not because anyone’s life
is in jeopardy, but because a few homosexuals might be inconvenienced
when attempting to purchase consumer goods.

In Walsh's mind, it's crazy that people could simultaneously think
women should have reproductive rights and LGBT people shouldn't face
discrimination.

Now, are there worse things that anti-gay discrimination? Of
course (although a woman's right to choose is certainly not one of
them...). Back in the day, there were worse things that segregated
drinking fountains, or racial miscegenation laws. But we recognize
that "something worse exists" isn't a valid reason to
legalize the somewhat-less-bad action. It doesn't absolve a thief of
his crime because he didn't also commit murder like someone else might have: he's still guilty of
theft. It doesn't absolve a bigot of bigotry just because his particular brand of bigotry doesn't lean toward murder.

Yes, there are worse things than treating gay people like
second class human beings, and there are more violently-inclined
bigots than your average right-wing Christian bigot. But so what?
There are worse things than having your wallet stolen -- both legal
and illegal. But just because some financial schemes are essentially
legalized theft, and some criminals resort to worse crimes than
theft, I'd still be pretty upset if someone stole my wallet. And, if
it was legal to steal wallets, I'd work to make it illegal.

So, no, conservatives, you don't get a free pass to discriminate
just because there are worse bigots than you. No, it's not okay that
you want to deprive people of anti-discrimination protections because
you also want to target other people and their rights. You're not
moral just because someone else somewhere else is even more immoral than
you.

And, frankly, you do yourself no favors by lying on top of aggressively pursuing special protections for your bigotry. I don't think anyone outside
conservative circles thinks it reflects well on you that your stance
on LGBT rights isn't as bad as that of ISIS' or the Ayatollahs'. And I
doubt the comparison sits that well with a lot of your base, either.